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| Traffic congestion in Co. Down! |
April 16, 2009
Last time I was tellin' ye a few wee phrases from Belfast, or B'lfaast, as we sometimes say here! Now, I have a confession to make, I'm not originally from Belfast, although I've both lived and worked in the city for several years.
My wife, however, was born 'n' rared in B'lfast - although she keeps arguin' with me about pronunctiations and so forth! I was born in Co. Down, so I'm definitely on solid ground there - if solid ground is appropriate for a part of the country that's full of lakes!
My wife, however, was born 'n' rared in B'lfast - although she keeps arguin' with me about pronunctiations and so forth! I was born in Co. Down, so I'm definitely on solid ground there - if solid ground is appropriate for a part of the country that's full of lakes!
There's a word that we Co. Down people, (and on into Armagh and Monaghan, too), find very hard to say - and that's 'caar' - to us it's a 'cyar'. As I said before, we drive cyars, walk on cyarpets, keep cyats as pets, and out in the country we 'rare a wean a cyattle for a livin', now, bye!'
Now, the word, 'wean', comes from keepin' pigs. A sow has a litter of 10 or 12 wee'ans and when they're old enough ye wean them from the morr - and so ye have a 'wean' a pigs. That phrase then gets transferred to other animals and objects as well, so really, it jist means a group of somethin'. The word 'rare' is just our way of sayin' 'rear' - ye tare down the road, and ye rare animals. Ye don't 'teer' down the road, do ye?
Well, we were talkin' about Co. Down, where we do strange things like 'haigin' a wean a sticks til light the fire and git a wee bit a' hate intill us!' We might also have a bit of a wynd, instead of wind! We tend to say 'boy' a lot in Down, only we pronounce it, 'bye'. I believe they talk like that in Newfoundland, too.
'Are ye right there, bye?' W'll get oursels redd up an' get wer tay inty us and then we'll get in the cyar an' go til see a fillim!' If yiz can't undtherstaan' a word a' that, then ye'd betther email me!
'Are ye right there, bye?' W'll get oursels redd up an' get wer tay inty us and then we'll get in the cyar an' go til see a fillim!' If yiz can't undtherstaan' a word a' that, then ye'd betther email me!
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